This invention relates to agricultural equipment and more particularly to apparatus for forming a raised-bed for the growing of plants.
As is known to those skilled in the art, the so-called "raised-bed" technique for growing crops, plants or other vegetation has been utilized for hundreds of years. Basically, that technique entails building some enclosure on the surface of the ground and filling that enclosure with soil or some other plant growing medium. The advantages of raised-beds are that they can be planted far earlier in the spring because the soil dries out and warms up much more quickly. That aspect alone has made the raised-bed technique an ideal one for northern gardeners who frequently struggle with the short growing season. Moreover, raised-beds are easy to nourish with compost, peat or fertilizers, and less expensive, too, because the gardener is only building the soil where the plants are to grow, not in walkways, between roads, etc. Further still, a year-to-year maintenance of a raised-bed is minimal, drainage improves dramatically, and the problem of soil compaction is virtually eliminated. Further still, the garden has fewer weeds, and the gardener has a much easier time pulling out the ones that do grow. Those features, along with the excellent soil conditions promoted in the raised-bed, contribute to bigger yields, better quality harvest, and a generally more healthy, more productive garden.
Heretofore raised-beds have been formed by utilizing wooden beams, bricks, or other conventional building materials to form the enclosure. While such beds exhibit the advantages as mentioned heretofore, their assembly is somewhat difficult, is not conducive to ready disassembly, and/or reconfiguration, and, in addition, does not include means for effecting the efficient watering of the plants growing in the bed.